Medical college headache: Govt. claimed approved, ministry says ‘proposed’

The prolonged demand for the medical college for Nagaland and the conflicting expectations about its manifestation over the years may have run into yet another headache:  the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has listed the state’s requisition for a medical college as ‘proposed’ and not as approved.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda said on Friday, July 24, that 22 colleges have been approved under a scheme, the centrally-sponsored scheme for “establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district/referral hospitals”.

This reporter accessed information from central sources including webcasts and parliamentary proceedings of the Lok Sabha on July 24. Old news archives were also accessed.

The minister stated in a written reply on Friday that funds to the tune of Rs. 128.53 crore have been released to the states whose requisition for medical colleges had been approved. 

Contradictions and conceptual conflict

The contradiction is this: In March 2014, the then chief minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio had already dedicated the foundation stone for “Nagaland medical college” in P Khel of Kohima town. The medical institution was to be housed in Naga Hospital, in the capital town’s P Khel.

Likewise, in February 2014, the then minister for Health & Family Welfare Imkong L Imchen had told the Press trust of India that the state would be getting its first medical college with the centre already ‘agreeing’ to upgrade the Kohima district hospital, also Naga Hospital. The academic session of the college was reportedly to begin in ‘2015-2016’.

The February 26, 2014 report of the PTI states: “Mr. Imchen said although the project had been given an approval last year, there was a delay in issuing the orders. He said he personally met Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad and following the interaction, the Ministry issued the work order on February 22”.

“The Central government has agreed to upgrade the District Hospital of Kohima to a Medical College under the 12th Plan. This college will have a Tertiary Care Hospital which will now be the Referral Centre for difficult and complicated cases,” the then-minister was reported as having stated.

Again, in March this year, Nagaland Minister for Health and Family Welfare, P Longon informed the state assembly that an amount Rs 189 Crore had been submitted in the Detailed Project Report for construction of the requested medical college in Kohima.

He was replying to a questioned raised in the assembly session then. The Health Minister had also reportedly stated that application for registration of the said medical college had been placed before the Medical Council of India.

News archives show remarks from the minister then that the DPR had been submitted to the Government of India and the Medical Council of India and ‘till date no money has been received’. No work order has been issued in this regard, a news report about the session from a local newspaper states. The minister said that the medical college was expected to “commence from the 2016-2017 session, subject to release of funds from the Government of India”.

Back to the Lok Sabha session on Friday when Union Health Minister JP Nadda offer updates, while states that have received funds for their medical colleges are shown, Nagaland is shown among those in the ‘proposed’ group. 

The centrally-sponsored scheme entails fund-sharing between the central government and states in the ratio of 90:10 for north east /Special Category states and 75:25 for other states.

The proposed central assistance share is Rs. 8457.40 crore and State/UT share is Rs. 2513.70 crore.  The total cost of establishment of one medical college under the scheme is Rs.189 crore, the PIB’s minutes about the minister’s reply shows.

List of 58 proposed medical colleges

List of identified states/districts under the scheme for "Establishment of new Medical Colleges attached with district/referral hospitals"
S. No.	State/UT	No. of districts	Name of the districts
1	Assam	4	Nagaon
			North Lakhimpur
			Karbi Anglong at Diphu
			Dubri
2	Bihar	3	Samastipur
			Saran (Chhapara)
			Purnia
3	Chhattisgarh	2	Rajnandgaon
			Sarguja
4	Haryana	1	Bhiwani
5	Himachal Pradesh	3	Chamba
			Nahan (Sirmour)
			Hamirpur
6	Jharkhand	3	Dumka
			Palamu
			Hazaribagh
7	Jammu and Kashmir	5	Anatnag
			Doda
			Baramullh
			Kathua
			Rajauri
8	Madhya Pradesh	7	Chindwara
			Ratlam
			Shivpuri
			Shahdol
			Vidisha
			Datia
			Khandwa
9	Maharashtra	1	Gondia
10	Odisha	5	Balesore
			Bolangir
			Koraput
			Baripada (Mayurbhanj)
			Puri
11	Punjab	1	SAS Nagar
12	Rajasthan	7	Bharatpur
			Dungapur
			Barmer
			Alwar
			Churu
			Bhilwara
			Pali
13	West Bengal	5	Birbhum (Rampur Hat)
			Coochbihar
			Purulia
			Uttar Dinajpur (Distt. Hosp. Raiganj)
			South 24 Paraganas
14	Uttar Pradesh	5	Faizabad
			Bahraich
			Basti
			Firozabad
			Shahjehanpur
15	Uttarakhand	1	Almora
16	Arunachal Pradesh	1	Papun Pare General Hosp. , Naharlagun, Itanagar
17	Meghalaya	1	West Garo Hills, Tura
18	Mizoram	1	Referral Hospital at Falkwan
19	Nagaland	1	Kohima (Naga Hospital)
20	A & N Islands	1	Port Blair
	Total	58

The current information adds to the years of confusing roller coaster hopes for a medical institution for Nagaland. The chief criteria for a state/ district to qualify for a medical under the scheme are: 

•          District hospitals /referral hospital must have a bed-strength of 200 or more
• ·         District hospital /referral hospitals where there is no medical college
• ·         Preference to underserved areas

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